Vol. 435 No. 9
159 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if, in view of recent malicious fires involving the use of petrol, he intends to introduce new measures restricting and controlling the sale of this product, involving the introduction of an age limit, the type of container that can be used when purchasing petrol, the requirement that a register to be kept by outlets of all sales made and other such controls; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
There is a substantial body of legislation already in existence dealing with the storage and supply of petroleum spirit. This legislation is contained in the Dangerous Substances Act, 1972, No. 10 of 1972, the Dangerous Substances (Detail and Petroleum Stores) Regulations, 1979. S.I. 311 of 1979 and the Dangerous Substances Retail and Petroleum Stores (Amendment) Regulations, 1988, S.I. No. 303 of 1988.
The 1979 regulations oblige all persons in control of petroleum spirit to take all parcitical steps to prevent persons under 15 years of age having access to petroleum or to any container which has not been rendered free of petroleum spirit or fumes.
Section 22 of the 1972 Act requires that every container of petroleum spirit other that the fuel tank of an engine must be clearly and conspicuously marked with the words "Petroleum Spirit" and "Highly Inflammable". In addition, under section 52 of the 1979 Regulations the labelling on such containers must include the details of the amount of petroleum spirit contained therein and a specified danger symbol.
In view of the volume of sales of petroleum on a daily basis it would not be practical to require that the register of all sales made by retailers be maintained, nor is it clear that such a measure would serve any useful purpose in practice.
